Reaching Out to Those MBU Has Reached

The MBU Alumni Board is out and about to serve former and current students while being very active with campus activities.

Photo by John Hough

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Did you know that once you graduate from Missouri Baptist University there will be a group of people looking out for you?

Alumnus, alumni, alumna, alumnae.

When you graduate you will become one of these.

That means you won’t be forgotten as long as the MBU Alumni Board is around.

“The Alumni Board is first and foremost a representative for our alumni body,” Alumni Relations Manager Brian Knapp said. “The Alumni Board exists to represent them and to serve on their behalf, to be the voice of the alumni.”

Not only does the board exist to serve the alumni, but current students as well.

“Our big push this next coming year is to engage students,” Knapp said. “We feel that our biggest mission is not only connecting alumni with each other, but taking alumni and connecting them with students to serve them whether it be career, professional or personal development.”

The Alumni Board consists of 13 members and Knapp hopes to grow that number to as high as 21.

The members meet four times a year, which are called quarterly meetings, and there are five committees that meet in between those four meetings.

The first is serve, which is to function as an advisory council to the alumni office staff on how the staff can better understand and meet the needs of the alumni community.

Next is to engage or to actively strengthen ties between former students, faculty and staff of the university.

The third function is to advocate by publicly supporting the university and its community of alumni and friends.

Lastly, there is support, which is to contribute time, talent and treasure to further association and university goals.

“As any alum at the university, we ask, specifically from our board members, that they help in that goal of the university,” Knapp said.

Although the Alumni Board is not charged or responsible for raising funds because those come from the Development Office, “As Alumni Board members we asked for 100 percent participation and whatever giving campaign or anything the university is doing to help raise money.”

A significant project for the board is the new Homecoming football game and like a lot of schools throughout America, it is a chance for any alumni boards to connect with the alumni at their school.

MBU is new to the game, but is catching on quickly.

“One of the biggest things for us is that’s an opportune time to get alumni back on campus,” Knapp said. “Traditionally speaking, Homecoming is for alumni and to put more emphasis on Homecoming, instead of all of the home football games.”

The board wants to improve in getting the word about Homecoming out sooner, specifically in the summer, and the branding that goes with it across the university.

Another goal is to increase the marketing strategy by partnering more with the MBU Communications Office to use social media to advertise.

“The board is excited and ready to get to work on engaging current students and helping alumni connect with one another in a meaningful way,” Knapp said. “The big things that I have found meeting with alumni is that they’re looking for ways to give back to the university, specifically by getting involved with current students and networking with one another. Our Alumni Board is excited and eager to help make those initiatives.”

John Hough

John Hough is a staff journalist for MBU Timeline, majoring in journalism. He has been a contributing writer for Riverbender.com in Alton, Ill. John is from St. Louis. He enjoys reading, traveling and covering local high school sports. After graduating, John would like to pursue a career in sports journalism and his dream job would be getting a position as a sports writer for the LA Times in Los Angeles.

About MBU Timeline

Here are some interesting facts about MBU Timeline, the student news network of Missouri Baptist University.

*The WordPress site has been up since late-fall 2013. We average about 3,000 sessions and about 5,000 pageviews per month.

*Our stories and galleries get as few as 40 or 50 hits, or as many as 8,000 hits.

*We have readers in every state and 93 countries around the world. We have several readers in Brazil, the United Kingdom, India and Australia.

*Most of our readers are in Missouri, followed by Illinois, California and Texas.

*We do not accept advertising as we are a not-for-profit online newsmagazine.

*Our mission statement is: MBU Timeline is the student news network of Missouri Baptist University, a private Christian university that embraces the essential core value of “social change through service and leadership.”

*The Bible verse that drives our mission is 2 Timothy 2:15 (Worldwide English Version): “Tell the true message in the right way.”